• UCSB Approaches Final Stretch of the Regular Season
UCSB travels to Cal State Northridge today for its final regular season road match, slated for a 7 p.m. start. This marks the first meeting with the Matadors this year. This week has big implications for the Gauchos as they look to stay in the top-four on the Big West leaderboard and earn a berth into the 2011 conference tournament next week.

• Tune In
Tune into AM 1290 KZSB, the Santa Barbara News-Press Radio Station, for a live broadcast of today's match. Gerry Fall will be calling the play-by-play while Mark Patton will cover the color commentary. AM 1290 will air all of the Gauchos' remaining games, including any postseason contests. Fans can also listen online here.

• For The Record
After posting a pair of wins last week, UCSB improved to 11-5-1 on the season and now holds an even 4-4 Big West mark. With two league games left on the slate, the Gauchos still have the opportunity to post a winning Big West record for the eleventh consecutive season.

• Wild, Wild Big West
The top four teams in the final regular season standings advance to the fourth annual Big West Tournament, which will be held Nov. 9 and 12 at campus sites with the No. 1 seed hosting the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed hosting the No. 3 seed in the semifinals. The championship game will be hosted by the highest remaining seed. Six teams are in contention for the four spots entering the final week of regular season play. Just four points separate the fourth place team from first place. Only two points separate the sixth place team from the fourth spot. UCI leads the logjam at 16 points followed by UC Davis (15) and UC Riverside (14). UC Santa Barbara (12 points), Cal State Northridge (11) and Cal Poly (10) are nipping at everyone else's heels. The tiebreaker possibilities are too numerous to list here, but for the sake of simplicity UCI clinches a berth with a win or tie against Cal Poly on Tuesday. In addition, UCR punches its tournament ticket with a win against UCD on Saturday, but may gain entry prior to that depending on outcomes of games earlier in the week. UCD is definitely in with a win against Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday. The UC Santa Barbara-Cal State Northridge match tonight looms large. The Matadors are eliminated from tournament contention with a loss. The Gauchos can still get in with a loss to CSUN, but they would rest their tournament fate on other outcomes. A win and a tie guarantees a berth for UCSB.

• Offensive Behavior
The Gaucho offense ranks as one of the best in the nation and in the Big West. UCSB leads the league in points (110), goals (38), goals per game (2.24), assists (34) and assists per game (2.0). In conference play, they lead all teams with 56 points, 19 goals, 2.38 goals per game, 18 assists and 2.25 assists per game. Among all Division I programs, the Gauchos are sixth in total goals and seventh in scoring offense with their 2.24 goals per game average.

• Silva Is Golden
Senior Luis Silva wrapped up several national and local honors after a huge offensive outpouring across last week's two games. The midfielder has been named Top Drawer Soccer's Player of the Week, the Big West Offensive Player of the Week and was named to the College Soccer News Team of the Week. Silva scored three goals and had three assists last week. He tallied an assist and then a goal in the 3-1 win over UC Davis before scoring twice and dishing out two helpers during the 4-3 victory against Cal State Fullerton.

• A Little More On Luis
Silva leads the Big West in nearly every offensive category. He is first in points (34), points per game (2.12), goals (13), goals per game (.81), assists (8) and assists per game (0.50). The senior is seventh among all Division I players in total points, ninth in goals and points per game, 10th in goals per game, 11th in total assists and 14th in assists per game. Silva is busy making his mark in the UCSB record books this season as he currently ranks sixth in career shots (176) and matches played (82), is seventh in career assists (21) and career points (69), eighth in points in a season (34), and ninth in goals in a season (13) and career goals (24).

• RPI Report
The NCAA released its third Rating Percentage Index (RPI) of the season and the Gauchos are ranked No. 14, up four spots from last week. The RPI helps guide the selection and seeding of the 48-team NCAA Tournament. Six of the seven Big West schools are ranked in the top-60.

• Pulse On The Polls
UCSB has broken back into the top-20 of every national poll this week. The Gauchos have been tabbed No. 16 by Soccer Times, Top Drawer Soccer and Soccer America. College Soccer News and the NSCAA, meanwhile, have UCSB at No. 17.

• On The Horizon
Billed the top rivalry in the country by College Soccer News, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly will be on display this Friday on the NSCAA Game of the Week. A national television audience will witness the showdown at UCSB's Meredith Field at Harder Stadium on Fox Soccer Channel. When the two teams met in San Luis Obispo on Oct. 14, the Mustangs registered a 2-1 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 11,075. The Gauchos hope to return the favor and surpass that total when the cameras roll for the 7 p.m. kickoff. UCSB attracted the nation's largest crowd of the season on Sept. 23 when 13,772 watched the Gauchos defeat San Diego 3-0. Not that any extra motivation is needed for this match up, but it is possible that one of these teams will be eliminated from Big West Tournament contention with a loss.

• Get Your Tickets!
To purchase your tickets to Friday's match, visit the Ticket Office in the ICA Building on campus, call (805) 893-UCSB or click here to buy online.